The Arrow in the Apple
by reppad98
Summary: Drabble-collection for my awesome team The Appleby Arrows. Chapter eight: Regulus wants to borrow Sirius's books.
1. Hot Chocolate

**A/N:** Thank you for clicking on this story! This story is dedicated to my teammates of the Appleby Arrows, with who I competed in The Quidditch Fanfiction League for months. Thank you guys, it has been truly an amazing rollercoaster ride these last few months. I've learnt so much and couldn't have wished a better team. Thank you!

This chapter is dedicated to our Beater queen-sheep, or as we know her, Kitty. You've been with the team since the very beginning, always available to do something extra for the team and with reason chosen as the most valuable player of our team. Thank you! I hope you enjoy this :)

Actually, I hope all of you enjoy this!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Arrow in the Apple**

**Hot Chocolate**

"It's cold," Tonks commented, not knowing what else to say but wanting to break the awkward silence hanging in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place 12.

"Yes," Remus agreed, "It's cold."

The pink-haired woman rubbed her hands together, if it was only to give herself something to do. Remus was just staring at the wall, and for her it seemed like the atmosphere was getting more awkward with every passing second.

"Do- do you want some hot chocolate?" Tonks finally said, not able to stand the silence any longer. Remus looked up, disrupted in his thinking, and looked at her puzzled for a moment, before nodding.

"Yes, thank you, I'd like that."

"Right..." she answered, and with hands that were trembling for a reason unknown to her – nerves, probably, she told herself – she took two cups out of the kitchen cupboard.

"Oh Merlin," she squeaked just a moment later, as one of the cups dropped on the ground with a loud clang.

Startled by the loud noise, Remus jumped up, his wand at ready.

"Sorry sorry sorry," Tonks immediately said, picking up the pieces of the broken cup. "Just my usual clumsiness again, heh."

"Let me fix that," Remus said, suddenly standing at her side. "_Reparo_."

"Right, thank you, sometimes I forget I'm witch and I just-" she didn't know how to finish and instead just laughed awkwardly.

"Here, I'll make the hot chocolate," Remus said with a smile. "I need to get my mind off things anyway."

He took the cup out of her hand and Tonks couldn't help but notice when his hand touched hers. As she slowly got up from the ground, she heard him being busy with the hot chocolate, and when she sat down at the table, she heard him mutter a spell and all of sudden the smell of hot chocolate filled the kitchen.

"There you go," he said, handing her the cup.

"Thank you," Tonks replied, and gave him her brightest smile. Remus smiled tiredly at her in response, and a sad feeling settled in her stomach, but she continued smiling at him.

"Everything is going to be okay," she suddenly said, not quite knowing why. At this, he smiled again, but this time with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"I know."

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**A/N:** Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it :) Oh, and a happy New Year in advance to all of you! :D Reviews are very appreciated!  
Thanks again!


	2. Night Time

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

This chapter is dedicated to another one who's been with us from the very start, our amazing Keeper _gote_, or as we know her, Bri. You've always been there for us, you were always able to beta stories and your comments have really helped me. Thank you! :D

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Arrow in the Apple**

**Night Time**

The sound of a crying baby filled the room.

"Oh no..." a redheaded woman groaned in the pillow. When no reply except for a loud snore came from her right, Lily groggily opened her eyes.

"James, James, wake up," she said, prodding her husband in his side. "James, it's your turn tonight."

He still didn't reply, only rolled over on his stomach. The crying hadn't ceased, and for the love of Merlin, Lily couldn't understand how he could sleep through it.

With a deep sigh she sat up in bed, pushing her wild hair behind her ears.

"Fine, I'll go then," she muttered, and after throwing one last glare at her snoring husband, she got up to calm her son.

She had just taken Harry out of his cot and was about to start walking around with him in hopes to get him to fall asleep, when suddenly James stood in the doorway.

"It was my turn tonight," he said, squinting his eyes to protect them against the bright light.

"But you didn't wake up, and I was already awake, so..." Lily said, smiling a little.

"C'mon here," James said, placing an arm around her shoulder. "Give me Harry and you go back to sleep."

For a moment Lily hesitated, almost wanting to say that she could handle it, before giving in to her tiredness.

"Here," she said as she carefully placed the infant in his arms. When the baby boy felt that his mother's warm arms were letting him go, he let out a little cry, before he felt he was enclosed again by warmth.

"He's going to have your eyes," James said softly as he stared at the cerulean coloured eyes of his son.

"Yes, but he has your hair," she said, pointing at the little fluff of dark hair on Harry's head. With one finger, she caressed his cheek, and after giving her husband a quick peck on his cheek, she left the nursery to go back to bed.

As Lily lay there in the dark, she could hear James's muttered voice, and when she listened intently, she swore he was telling Harry fairy tales. With a smile on her face, Lily drifted off to sleep.

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**A/N:** Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! Please review :D  
Thanks again!


	3. The Book

**A/N:** Time for the next chapter! Please enjoy :)

This chapter is dedicated to _colorful swirls_, Anna, who has been both our Seeker and Chaser, and who has continued to support our team even when she was busy. She's been with us since the very beginning, and I don't doubt she'll stay till the end. Thank you!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Arrow in the Apple**

**The Book**

"Hmph," a redheaded girl groaned, standing on her tiptoes as she tried to reach a book on one of the higher shelves. Suddenly, another hand grabbed the book.

"Here you go."

The book was held in front of her, held forward by a black-haired boy with glasses. Behind those glasses, green eyes were staring questioningly at her. _Those beautiful green eyes..._ She could have drooled.

"Ginny?" he asked when she made no movement to grab the book.

"I- er," she stuttered, her cheeks starting to heat up, and when she tried to quickly grab the book, she dropped it.

"Oh Merlin," she said, bending down to grab it, but Harry did so too, causing them to bump heads.

"Oof!"

"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry," Ginny said, mentally cursing the Weasley blush as her face was probably looking like a tomato with eyes.

"It's okay," he said – he was rubbing his forehead though, she noticed – then held out the book for her again. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Ginny said, not able to look at him. She hoped her red hair hided most of her just as red face.

Harry just gave her a quick smile, before turning around and walking away.

_Right_, she mentally noted to herself, _next time a book is out of your reach, _leave_ it._

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**A/N:** Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave me a review on the way out!  
Thanks again!


	4. Play Pretend

**A/N:** And here's the next chapter! Please enjoy!

This chapter is dedicated to _Empress Empoleon_, or for short Empress. She's been our Chaser for this whole competition, and always gave it her all. Not to mention that she's also really nice and was always willing to help. Thank you!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Arrow in the Apple**

**Play Pretend**

"Mister Lupin, would you like a cup of tea?" a girl wearing a sunhat several sizes too big for her asked the boy in front of her.

"Vic, I don't wanna-"

"I said," the girl repeated slowly, her blue eyes narrowing as she glared at him, "Would you like a cup of tea, mister Lupin?"

The blue-haired boy gritted his teeth as he plopped down on the grass in front of the girl. "Yes, fine."

"Manners, mister Lupin," the blonde reminded him, smiling brightly.

Teddy let out a sigh. "Yes, _please_."

Victoire now got up and walked over to him, holding a white teapot with pink flowers painted on it.

"Theeere you go," she said as she poured something that seemed like watery lemonade in the manliest teacup Teddy had been able to find – blue with cute turtles on it.

When he didn't immediately reply, Victoire threw another glare in his direction causing him to quickly mutter a thank you. Happily, the girl skipped back to her place on the other side of the picnic cloth.

"And, mister Rabbit, do you want some tea too?" she said as soon as she was sitting again.

Silence followed, in which she continued to look between the stuffed rabbit to her left and the boy in front of her.

"Teddy, you have to pretend to be mister Rabbit now," Victoire whispered when the blue-haired boy didn't do anything.

"But Vic, I don't wanna..."

"But Teddy..." Victoire pouted, "you promised we would play with mister Rabbit..."

"Yeah, I know, but can't we just play something else?" Teddy proposed hopefully. "Maybe, maybe we could uh, pretend to be mummy and daddy and-"

Victoire's eyes started to shine. "Yes, and mister Rabbit could be our baby!"

"Yeah, yeah," he quickly agreed, but the girl wasn't even listening to him anymore.

As she took off in the direction of the house, she yelled back at him, "I'm going to get my apron!"

When she was gone, Teddy quickly emptied the teacup in the grass, and let out a breath of relief. Everything was better than a tea party...

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**A/N:** Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are very appreciated!  
Thanks again!


	5. The Third Wheel

**A/N:** Woot, a quick update! Hope you enjoy!

This chapter is dedicated to our Beater Nic, officially _symphonies of you_. She wasn't with us since the beginning, but she might as well be, she feels like she's been part of this team forever. She was first a reserve, and later became an amazing Beater. Thank you!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Arrow in the Apple**

**The Third Wheel**

"Al, have you seen Rose?"

"Hm?" the raven-haired boy looked up from his notes. "No, actually, no I haven't."

"She's been gone for six hours now," Scorpius said, and he wasn't able to completely disguise the worry in his voice.

"You've been keeping track?" Albus asked his friend amused.

The blond boy looked away. "Well, yeah, she's my friend."

"Scorp, she's on a date-"

"But the others came back from Hogsmeade hours ago," he interrupted.

Albus rolled his eyes. "She's probably snogging Brooks somewhere in a corner then."

"But I haven't seen her with dinner either!"

"Ugh, Rose is a big girl, she can take care of herself," Albus said after a sigh, and then added in a friendlier tone, "But if you're really so worried about her, why don't you go search her?"

Scorpius sighed and stared at his book again. From the corner of his eyes Albus could see his friend was biting his lip, and after a few minutes he noticed Scorpius was still staring at the same page.

"Look Scorp, just go look for her, 'kay?" he finally said after a few more minutes of watching him stress and worry.

"Yeah, yeah, good idea," Scorpius said, jumping up and closing his book. "I'm off, I'll see you later Al!"

After giving his friend a half-wave, Albus went back to studying his notes. Transfiguration was difficult...

"Mister Potter?"

With a start Albus looked up, suddenly face to face with Miss Filch. "The library is going to close, you'll have to leave, please."

After rubbing his eyes, he threw a glance at his watch. "Whoa, it's late already!"

Miss Filch had already walked away to tell another student the library was going to close, and Albus quickly gathered his books and notes. He wondered where Scorpius had gone, it had been three hours already.

_Well_, he thought as he walked out of the library, _Scorp has probably found Rose and they are now in the common room._

But when Albus arrived in the common room almost twenty minutes later, both Rose and Scorpius weren't there yet. And after some asking around, he found out that Scorpius had visited the common room three hours ago, but had then left again.

"James," Albus said to his older brother with a tug on his sleeve, and then continued in a quieter voice, "Can I borrow the map for a minute? Just one minute is enough."

The older boy rolled his eyes, before pulling out a piece of parchment. "You better bring it back soon."

"Yeah, sure, thanks!" And with that, Albus was off.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed they were both safely in Hogwarts, and together. With the help of the map, he had easily found them, but not quite as he had expected.

_Well, dammit_, Albus thought as he stared at his snogging friends. Seems like he owed James five Galleons now.

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**A/N:** Ah, I liked that one... hope you liked it too! Thank you for reading! And yeah, about Miss Filch... I can totally imagine Filch and Pince hooking up together and having a kid haha. But yeah, that's my craziness :P Please review!  
Thanks again!


	6. Promise

**A/N:** And here's another one :) Hope you enjoy it!

This chapter is dedicated to _nico di angelos_, or as we know her, our awesome Chaser Jane! It was an honour to be a Chaser with you, and I truly enjoyed having you in the team. You've been reliable throughout the whole competition and always around to chat, not to mention a really great writer too :D Thank you!

To _sparkling apples_: Thank you, I'm very glad you liked it :)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Arrow in the Apple**

**Promise**

A cool wind blew over the graveyard. The sun was setting, shining on the fresh flowers. They had only been put there this morning.

A man stood in front of the grave, his face hidden in shadows. If it hadn't been, one would've been able to see the tear tracks on his face.

She had been buried only this morning. He had been there, but hadn't been able to watch her body disappear under the earth. As soon as the short ceremony had ended, Sirius had gone home, immediately drowning himself in alcohol.

And now he was back. Of course, he had never been able to stay away from her. When she had been alive – he hated that sentence, the past tense of it – he had always been hanging around her too. She would keep him grounded, would make sure he wouldn't do_ too_ crazy things.

He was so scared. It was horrible, it was selfish, but he was feeling scared of what was going to come and how he would deal with it without her. And he was angry. At himself, at her, at this war, at just everything. And then there was this snippet of guilt, a small feeling chewing on him somewhere deep inside him, never letting go and always following him. Why her? Why not someone- anyone else? Why not him?

But most of all there was the ever-present, overwhelming, suffocating feeling of sadness. It was physically palpable, he could feel it pressing on his chest, making it more difficult to breathe. He couldn't see how this would ever get better, even though everyone said it would ease with time.

But how much time was there left?

Sirius shook his head. He shouldn't think like that, she wouldn't have wanted that. The sun was now completely gone, the graveyard slowly darkening.

"Goodbye Marlene," he whispered, his hand touching the cold tombstone, "I promise I won't forget you."

And with that, he turned and walked away from the graveyard.

He didn't know he would never return to it. He didn't know that, in just a few months, the war would end. He didn't know he would spend the coming twelve years in Azkaban.

But he did know one thing – Sirius Black was a man of his word.

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**A/N:** Phew, that was hard to write. I'm not one for angst, but for this piece it seemed fitting... Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! Reviews are very appreciated!  
Thanks again!


	7. One Certain Night

**A/N:** And again a chapter! I'm on a roll :P Hope you enjoy it!

This chapter is dedicated to our Seeker, _boazito3 _or Boazi as we always call you. You've been the fastest many times and always did your best, and even though you haven't been with us the whole competition, it sure feels like it :D You've been amazing! Thank you!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Apple in the Arrow**

**One Certain Night**

"Ron..." she whispered, gently nudging her husband. "Ron!"

"Hm-hmph, whattuh?" he muttered, turning around so he was facing her. "What is it?"

In the half-dark she could see he had opened his eyes, but they seemed unfocused and sleepy. _Of course_, Hermione thought to herself, _he has been snoring away for the last few hours._

"You okay?" Ron whispered, blinking in the dark.

_It's just been two days. He doesn't need to know yet. It's probably nothing._

"Yeah, just couldn't sleep..." she finally replied, deciding that she didn't want him to worry just yet.

"Hmm..." he groaned a bit, already falling back asleep. Hermione was used to it. While she didn't mind being up in the middle of the night and walk around the house a bit, Ron wouldn't get out of bed for anything less than life threatening. Otherwise it could wait until the morning.

As she listened to Ron's breath becoming more regular, she knew he had fallen back asleep.

It was quite unbelievable to her, because it had only been three weeks. Surely it couldn't go that easily, right? She had thought it would take half a year, or at least a few months. But Hermione knew her biology. It could be...

Unconsciously her hands rested on her stomach, and as soon as she realised that she was doing so, she pulled back. She was being ridiculous, it wasn't even sure yet!

With a deep sigh she rolled on her other side, pulling up the covers a bit and closing her eyes, this time determined to fall asleep.

It didn't work. After half an hour lying perfectly still, she still wasn't asleep, and her thoughts kept going in circles. What if, what if, what if?

"Argh!" With a groan, Hermione threw the covers off her body. "Ron!"

"What, what?" He shot up, immediately wide awake. When he noticed there was no immediate danger, he relaxed a bit. "What's wrong Hermione?"

She opened her mouth, then hesitated. _Am I not overreacting?_

Ron looked at her, his eyes urging her to go on.

"My period is two days late."

Silence.

"Have you... have you tested it yet?"

She shook her head.

"We have something... I mean, in the bathroom cabinet... do you want to try it?"

"I..." She hadn't thought about it yet. But a moment later she realised she didn't need to think about it either. "Yes."

And with that, she got up and walked towards the bathroom, leaving Ron to wait anxiously in the bedroom.

"And?" he called out just a few seconds later.

"I need a minute!"

"Right..." he muttered, staring at the closed door. Just one minute...

And then the door flew open, revealing a beaming Hermione. She didn't even need to say anything, because a moment later Ron had swept her up in his arms, kissing her passionately.

"I love you."

Hermione smiled brightly. "I love you too."

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**A/N:** Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it. Please leave me a review!  
Thanks again!


	8. Books

**A/N:** Wow, already the last chapter... I hope you like it!

This chapter is dedicated to _teddylupin-snape_, or actually, the multifunctional Teddy. You've been our Captain, reserve _and _Beater. And you've done an awesome job of it. It was great to be part of your team Teddy! Thank you!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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**The Arrow in the Apple**

**Books**

"Sirius?"

"Hm?"

"Don't you..." Regulus hesitated, "don't you need to do homework?"

"Oh seriously Reg, you too?!" the older boy snapped. "Mother and father are already nagging enough about that, thank you very much!"

"I don't mean it like that," Regulus quickly said. "I just... well, if you aren't using your schoolbooks, can I have a look at them, maybe?"

Sirius looked at him, blinking owlishly. "You're joking."

When the younger boy didn't say anything, Sirius burst out laughing. "You're that excited for Hogwarts? You want to start studying in the summer break?"

"Well..." Regulus gave his brother a sheepish grin. "Can I borrow them? Please? I promise I'll be careful with them!"

Sirius laughed again. "You are such a... Yeah, sure, you can have them haha."

"Really?" His eyes were shining.

"Yes really haha." Sirius was truly amused with his brother's excitement. About books, of all things... "They're upstairs in my trunk. As long as they're back there by the end of the summer, you can use them as much as you want."

"Right now?" he said, eagerly jumping up.

"Go ahead," Sirius said, grinning and shaking his head at his brother's antics. And as he watched Regulus run up the stairs, Sirius couldn't help but wonder how the heck they were related.

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**A/N:** Well, this was the last one. I really hope everyone enjoyed it, especially my team, it was a great ride with you guys. Thank you for everything! And all other readers and reviewers, thank you very much too! I appreciate everything :D

And now about the chapter itself... Hm, I liked this one, brotherly fluff and such :P Hope you liked it too, and thanks for reading! Reviews are very appreciated!


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